Yemassee, SC - Federal officials show up, unannounced, to inspect a
research lab that's home to over 1,000 monkeys in Yemassee. The filthy
conditions they found are now causing them to issue citations against
the company.

In April, federal investigators with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture found that conditions were so bad at Alpha Genesis Inc.,
that some animals that had frozen to death. That's resulted in seven new
citations against the lab northwest of Beaufort.

Now, an animal protection group wants more to be done to ensure no
more monkeys die at Alpha Genesis.

"They're just letting them die," said Carol Herard, a
Charleston-based advocate for the animal protection group called Stop
Animal Exploitation Now.

A latest inspection report, available to the public, reveals filthy
conditions at the lab.

"Just nasty, unclean, unkempt conditions for a facility that received
$2 million from the government last year," said Herard. 'They cant even
care for these monkeys."

The lab breeds and experiments on thousands of monkeys, some owned by
the federal government. They've been cited for creating an unsafe and
unhealthy environment, leading to the deaths of some of their animals.

"The new report says they left a monkey outside in the cage, when it
dropped to 9 degrees and they found him dead the next morning," said
Herard.

The report also states three monkeys died in the month of January due
to what the investigator called "cold stress." Alpha Genesis was also
cited for several habitats not being properly cleaned with a "large
number of dead cockroaches" just outside the cage. The report says
inside some of the cages were layer of feces and standing water.

However, there are some rules and regulations in place to protect
these monkeys, even though they're not considered pets. Labs must follow
Animal Welfare Act, regulated by the USDA.

According to records, Alpha Genesis received similar citations back
in 2012. Herard wants to see consequences because they're a repeat
offender.

"They've been fined with multiple violations in the past," said
Herard. "They need to be charged, they need to be fined."

Herard and SAEN is hoping that ultimately, Alpha Genesis has their
breeding license revoked.

"If I left my dog outside in a cage to freeze to death when it was 9
degrees, i would be charged with animal cruelty, so why would it be any
different for these little monkeys," said Herard.

A USDA official tells us that every lab gets a routine, unannounced,
visit about once a year. However, they can also be visited following
complaints filed against them. In this case, SAEN filed a complaint
against Alpha Genesis before it was inspected.

A USDA official says the citations that come out of these unannounced
inspections do not come with penalties. The labs are given a certain
period of time to fix the problems. The USDA official says they're going
to continue to monitor the conditions at Alpha Genesis.